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Top 5 sales tips for small business owners

April 18, 2019 2:57 pm

If you have a small business then effective selling is going to be an essential skill to acquire. This not only applies to actual sales but also being able to pitch your business to those who might be able to support it, from investors through to media. If selling is always something that you’ve struggled with there are plenty of ways that you can improve your ability in this area – starting with these top 5 sales tips for small business owners.

1. Get to know your sales cycle

Breaking down the sales cycle into a series of manageable steps can be incredibly helpful when it comes to improve sales performance. Understanding the sales cycle will give you the tools to begin better controlling it, and shortening it where possible. With in-depth understanding of the stages of the sales cycle it’s much simpler to start reducing the time it takes to get to the end of it.

2. Define your USP

“Unique Selling Point” is essentially what sets your business apart from the competition. This may be something that you’re already familiar with as a result of going through the process of setting the enterprise up but it’s helpful to define this in a single statement. The USP can feed into many different areas, from strategy to marketing and will be crucial for informing sales pitches and targeting sales strategy.

3. Craft an elevator pitch

An elevator pitch has a myriad of different uses – it’s essentially a short statement of what the business is and what it does. It comes from the idea that you should be able to pitch your business in the time it takes to ride the elevator. That means condensing down your statement of intent into somewhere around 30 seconds long. Once you become practiced at an elevator pitch you can use it for many different purposes when communicating about the business – crucially, it can be the foundation for opening a cold call or a sales pitch.

4. Become a smart negotiator

The best negotiators are not those who wipe the floor with the opposition but individuals who are able to make everyone feel like they have won when they walk away from the table. Good negotiation requires resilience and the ability to think quickly, to ask questions and understand what it is that is required to help close a sale. Smart negotiators are always well informed, about the products or services as well as the client or customer. They also understand the value of patience and compromise.

5. Learn how to deal with objections

Sales are not always easy to achieve and there may be a number of objections to overcome first. Identifying these in advance offers the opportunity to prepare responses to these objections so that they don’t derail the sale.

There are a number of different elements involved in improving sales performance for small business owners. Our Introduction to Sales course provides the ideal foundation for those who are looking to expand and develop this particular skill set.

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